Prayer bench



Dec. 7, 1937. LANDAU 2,101,259

' PRAYER BENCH Filed Aug. 26, 1936 INVENTOE fir qo ,5 Landau.

TTOENEY Patented Dec. 7, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFiCE PRAYER BENCH Missouri Application August 26, 1936, Serial No. 97,953

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a certain new and useful improvement in prayer-benches and has for its chief object the provision of a prayerbench which is of simple, inexpensive structure,

which may be readily manufactured, which is sturdy and durable in use, which may be easily folded and collapsed for convenience in packing and shipping, and which may with equal facility be unfolded and opened for installation and use at the desired location.

And with the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a prayerbench of my invention, the bench being fully open and set up for use;

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view of the bench, taken approximately on the line 2-2, Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view of the bench, partly in section, showing the bench collapsed or folded for packing and shipment;

2 Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmental detail sectional view of the bench, taken approximately on the line 4-4, Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a similar view, taken approximately on the line 55, Figure 4.

Referring now more in detail and by reference characters to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of my invention, the bench includes a pair of end-members A, A, each comprising a body-portion I having spaced depending legs 2, and each of the latter having feet-forming inturned base-flanges 3. The members A,

A, it may be stated, are preferably suitably constructed of metal and adjacent their upper margin and upon their respective inner face are each formed with a flange, as at 4, upon which is rested, and to which is suitably fixed,

a cross knee-rest providing member 5 suitably cushioned and ornamented, as at 6, and by means of the knee-rest 5, the end-members A, A, are tied rigidly together in upstanding spaced parallel relation, as shown. Preferably, also, each member A, A, is formed upon its front margin and adjacent its top margin with a knee-rest positioning flange I.

B designates the so-called back-member of the bench, which may be a suitably decorated and proportioned panel or section of wood or other suitable material 8, upon the upper margin'of 55 which is suitably fixed an arm-rest 9 also preferback-member B with its attached brackets C, C,

and arm-rest 9, is dimensioned to fit intermediate the end-members A, A, to which the panel 8 is attached for swingable movement by means of 10 suitable pivot-pins II engaging marginal projections I2 on the brackets C, C, and the rear upper corners of the opposed end-members A, A, as shown.

And also formed on the lower margin of at 15 least one of the hinge-brackets, as, for instance, bracket C, is a substantially U-shape or slotted thickened projection I3 adapted, when the panel or back B is in normal raised or operative position, as shown in Figure 1, to engage with and 20 seat upon a stud I4 fitted transversely in the end-member A, the stud I4 being threaded and the projection I3 being counter-bored, as at I5, to receive and accommodate a suitably and correspondingly threaded and enlarged nut-member D for releasably securing the back B in normal raised operative position.

Accordingly, in practice, the bench may be quite readily set up for use by disposing the back B in its raised position, or in the normal position 30 thereof shown in Figure 1, in which position of the bracket C the projection I3 seats on, and by means of the nut-member D is secured to, the stud I4. Thus, the member B is firmly retained in normal position for convenient use as an arm- 35 rest by the kneeling person.

On disengagement of the member D from the stud I 4, the arm-rest member B may be collapsibly swung rearwardly through an arc substantially of 270 to compactly lie flatwise under the knee-rest 5 with the brackets C, C, presented downwardly, as shown in Figure 3, when the bench occupies relatively small space and may be easily packed for shipment and the like, the back or arm-rest member B being releasably retained in abnormal or folded condition by any suitable means, such, for instance, by a springcatch I6 suitably disposed, as shown, on one of the bench end-members. 0

The bench fulfills in every respect the object 5 stated, and it is to be understood that changes in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the bench may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-

1. In a prayer-bench, a bench comprising a pair of spaced rigid end-members and a cross-member constituting a knee-rest fixed to, and extending between, the end-members at their forward margins in spaced relation upwardly from their lower margin, an arm-rest structure comprising a panel having hinged connection at its lower margin between the end-members adjacent the rear margins of said end-members for swingable movement both inoperaltively rearwardly and forwardly under, and operatively rearwardly and upwardly from, the knee-rest, and co-operable means on the end-members and panel for releasably securing the panel in upwardly swung operative position, said panel having a width less than the distance between, and when in folded inoperative position being disposed intermediate, said end-members.

2. A prayer-bench comprising a pair of companion-shaped end frames each having an intermediate portion and downwardly depending legsalong the outer margins thereof and inwardly presented flanges, a horizontally extending kneerest structure disposed at its end on the flanges and rigidly attached to the end frames, a panel provided at its upper longitudinal margin with an arm-rest structure andfalong its transverse margins adjacent the lower transversemargin V with a pair of opposed quadrant brackets, each presented frustro-conical end face for engage- 20 ment with the beveled face of the segment slot.

ARGO E. LANDAU. 

